The Qualcomm Tricorder X PRIZE (previously discussed here) has officially launched at CES in Las Vegas with financial backing from the X PRIZE Foundation and Qualcomm. The $10 million prize will go to whoever can build a portable, non-invasive device which is “capable of capturing key health metrics and diagnosing a set of 15 diseases”.

In order to win the prize, the device also has to weigh 5lb (2.2kg) or less, and the competition will only be open for the next three and a half years. In other words, you have till the summer of 2015 to invent the tricorder used in the 23rd century on Star Trek. X Prize Foundation chairman Peter Diamandis did specify that the tricorder wouldn’t need to make the same sound effects to win the prize, although we think it totally should.